[A. G. Maisey]

Yes, I believe the correct name for a Balinese keris ring is uwer; I think this name is used in Jogja too, however this Jogja usage is probably corrupted, because the original meaning in Javanese for uwer in relation to keris was to refer to the carving of a ring around the bottom of the jejeran---over the years it seems as if maybe people in Jogja have now applied it to the mendak.

In my experience everybody in Bali seems to call the uwer a cincin---"cincin" simply means "ring", which is an accurate enough description. But the formal, correct word does seem to be uwer.

David, I do not know of a published reference for Sumatra keris, and I myself have no experience in that area, but Gardner calls the two types of fitting, both the shallow Bugis-like one, and the deeper South Sumatra one, by the same name:- pendongkok.This may or may not be correct in the local South Sumatra dialects, but its probably a bit more accurate than "mendak".

This whole "name game" is something I've been opposed to for most of my life, and those who know me well will attest to this.

Indonesian is a "new" language, in that it was artificially imposed as an official language on the many groups of people who were drawn together to form the modern country of Indonesia.The foundation of the language is a form of Malay that is spoken in South Sumatra. Thus the "correct" names of many items, not just weaponry or keris, must come from the dialect of the area from which the item originates.

Now, if we look at the Javanese language, we find that linguists tell us---and my own experience bears this out---that we are looking at a non-standardised language, the speakers of which each seem to regard the words they use as their own personal property which can be changed, altered, manipulated for one reason or another, provided the meaning remains more or less clear.

Within the boundaries of the area where Javanese in one form or another is spoken, the name given to a specific implement can often vary.An implement which may look exactly the same as another implement, but with a minor imperceptible variation, can have a different name. In one village something may be called one thing, in another village the same thing may be called something else, however, it appears that for the most part, all these varying names are mutually intelligible.

I have a working knowledge of the Javanese language, and I probably know more of the history and theory of the Javanese language than do most speakers of this language, and what I can see is that the language is used as a medium for both social communication and social exclusion.

I do not know much at all about the other languages of Indonesia, but if they are in any way like Javanese, then once again we will see non-standardised languages.

With this background, I simply cannot see any real use in being pedantic about the name of anything.

In application to weaponry and keris, if we wish to give something a name that comes from an Indonesian cultural source, then perhaps we should specify the source and the time frame when we use the name.The time frame is also important, because the application of words to objects alters over time.

I think that it is probably true that Javanese terminology is in the process of achieving domination of keris terminology in all keris cultures. This is simply a continuation of the thread of history:- the keris came from Jawa in the first place, when it went into other areas perhaps the Javanese terminology did not follow it, a local keris vocabulary developed, but now that the modern world has compressed distance, the Javanese terminology is once again being wedded to the object which originated from Jawa.

However, the purpose of language is to move an idea from one person's mind, to the mind of another person.
Provided the idea is moved, language has served its purpose.
It may be of academic interest to know, and to be able to use the many and various words that constitute the keris vocabulary as it is spread across South East Asia.
However, for the sake of communication, I personally believe that it is quite acceptable to call a jejeran an ukiran, or a gagang, or a pegangan, or hilt, or a handle.
A wrongko can be a warangka, or a sarung, or scabbard, or even a sheath.
A wilah can be a mata, or a blade.
The word I would use would depend upon the person I was speaking with and the situation.

I would like to suggest that we do not become too particular about the words we use when we are talking about keris.Yes, I agree there is a degree of interest in knowing the various names of things, but when we lack the social and cultural background to understand the the meaning, either actual or implied of a particular word, of what use is the word?

Many of us can name the various ricikan of a keris.
How many of us know the meanings, actual, implied and symbolic, overt and covert of those names?

Let's not get too tied up with words.